Oiler



Sept. 27,/1938. o. vH..|UNG ET A1. 2,131,441

OILER Filed June 6, 1935 c/womM/vs/ [Iscar H-Jung 'd F'- E-.HEff Elfn :LEP

Patented Sept.v 27, 1938 This invention. appertiains to: oilers, and.. more.- particularly to a. novel lubricatingdeyice fon'the.

bearings of. the shafts oielectricmotora andthe.:

like.

Considerable difficulty is. encountered inthe use of oilbearings ofI the. type'commonly` ern:-y ployed` onv electric motors, possibly dueqto theA smallquantity ofv oill contained therein, andthe lo, fact that the amount of oil .inthe bearings cannot` i be seen by an observer... k.Consequentlgq these.

bearings frequently run..dry,. causing the. ruination ofthe motor.. The bearings whenlledwith cil also. tend tofeed the. oil;too,fast,-.resulting.in 15.,waste. v It is therefore. one of. thepr1mary objects of; our invention toprovide an oilingdevice, embody` ing reservoirs .whichwillhold a-.-relatively,-large quantity of oil, so thatthe bearingsv willebe propeerly lubricated-over aigreat:lengthoiv time,..and. in which the amount-off oil .in.-.the reservoirs can, be readily seenfat: all jti 1nes... c

Another salient. object of our inventionY is.- the provision'of novel means ,forffeeding the.-oil-:to. the bearings, in direct' accordancewiththeneed of the bearinggandtheamount of use of the motor x and for, withdraw-ing;v surplus oil from the bearings back into the reservoir, whereby all waste of'oil is eliminated.

A further object of our invention is the provision of a lubricator of the thermo capillary type, so constructed and arranged that the oil will be supplied according to the heat of the bearing and the amount of oil contained in the bearing.

A further object of our invention isthe provision of a lubricating device embodying an oil reservoir formed from glass, or otherrtransparent material, having a gooseneck for connection with the usual bearing of a shaft, a Wick being employed for feeding the oil from the reservoir to 40 the bearing by capillary attraction.

A further important object of our invention is the provision of means for arranging the o-il reservoir adjacent to the bearing of the shaft, whereby the heat from the bearing and motor will be 5 transmitted to the reservoir for maintaining the oil in a free flowing fluid condition.

A still further object of our invention is the Y provision of an adjustable bracket for receiving two or more of the improved reservoirs, whereby 50 the reservoirs can be applied as a unit to the bearings of a motor, and whereby displacement of the reservoirs relative to one another will be prevented.

A still further object of our invention is to pro- 55 vide a thermo capillary lubricating device for The necks II of the reservoirs I I) electric motors voffthefabove character, ,which will bedurable and eiicient.iniuse,one-that will be simple. andleasy` to. manufacture, andeneiwhich. canlbe placed upon..the market andfincorporated withlanfelectric motor. ata small cost. Y 5: I

With these and otherobjects in View., the invention; consists in: the novel construction, arrangementand.formationof parts, as will be. herein-V aftermore specifically described. claimed, and f. illustrated inthe acoo panying.drawingjnwhich 10( drawing: l c

Figure lisasidefelevation .of an electric motor showing-.ourimprovedlubricating device associ-v atedtherewith., l e

Figure 2-is atop planview. ofan electric motor, 15' showing-the improvedtlubricating@device asso'ciat- Figure 3l is an.Y enlarged detaiLvertical.- section takensubstantially onf the line. 3-r3v-of. Figure 1, looking inthe'directionlof Ythe arrows, illustrat.- ingthe association. of. the gooseneckwith Tthe -conventional bearing: of. a inotor.

lfteferring. tol the drawing in Y. detaiL. whereinl similar reference characters designate correspending partssthroughout the several views, .the o letten M=generallyindicates afmotor, and L.our` improved lubricating device therefor.

The motor M has merely been illustrated to show one use of our improved lubricator, and it is to be understood that the lubricator can be 3o employed with various types of bearings and mo.- tors. As shown, the motor M includes the rotatable armature shaft 5 suitably supported inv bearings 6 carried by the easing I of the motor. The bearings 6 are provided with suitable oil ports 8, 35 through which the oil is introduced. l

Our improved lubricating device comprises an oil reservoir I0 for each bearing, and these reservoirs are preferably formed from glass, or other transparent material, so that the amount of oil 40 contained therein can be readily seen, but it is to be understood the reservoir can be made from any desired material, such as metal. As shown, the reservoir can be in the nature'ofV bottles,=if so preferred, and the same are provided with threaded necks I I. Obviously, the reservoirs I0 contain a relatively large quantity of oil in comparison to the conventional motor bearings 6. are closed by threaded caps I2, and a gasket I3 is preferably 50 interposed between the caps and the necks to form an air-tight seal. While We have shown the caps I2 threaded'on the reservoir, it is to be understood that the caps can be secured in place in any desired way, and in fact the closures can metal loop 2I.

Vbe permanently secured in place at the time of filling of the reservoir. The axial centers of the caps rigidly support a conductor tube I4 of a substantially inverted U shape to form a gooseneck. The depending free ends of the tubes I4 are inserted within the oil ports 8 of the bearing 6, as clearly shown in Figure 3 of the drawing.

A wick I5 is inserted in each tube, and is of sufficient length to extend into the bottoms of the oil reservoir I Obviously, according to the illustrated form of our invention, the reservoirs I0 can be readily filled with oil by merely'removing the tubes from the bearings, and unthreading. the caps I2 from the necks of the reservoirs. The

flow of oil is controlled by restricting the bore of the tube I4 with more or less strands ofwicking.

We prefer to rigidly connect the oil reservoirs I0 together so that the oil reservoirs for one 'motor can be handled as a unit, and so that displacement of the reservoirs relative to one anothernwillbe prevented. To connect the reservoirs IU together, we may employ an adjustable bracket I6. This bracket I6 is of a substantially U shape 4in plan, and includes independent like companion sections rII and I8. The sectionsinclude the inwardly 22 for gripping and holding the oil reservoirs IIJ.r

By having the sections II and I8 adjustably connected together, the oil reservoirs I0 can be connected with motors of different sizes. It is also proposed to make the brackets I6 offductilematerial so that the metal can be readily bent to conform to the congu'ration of thernotor, and1 to extend around obstructions onthe motor. v

We have found that the lubricating device constructed in accordance with our invention will effectively feed the oil in proper quantities, and at lthe proper time, without any waste of oil. The wick feedsthe oil in accordance with the dryness of the bearing, and the heat generated by the bearing and motor maintains the oil in the reservoirs in a free iowing condition, in View of the close proximity of the reservoirs to the bearing and motor. n Thus, when the motor is in use, and the bearings and motor heat up, a greater quantity of oil will be supplied to the bearings.

It is to be noted that syphon action takes place, when the air and the oil in the bottle have cooled. The'fsyphon action then operates to draw the surplus oil Vin -the 'wick andbearing back into the reservoir, -due to the decrease in the pressure within the bottle. A

With enough strands in the tube, the oiler can vbe placed in the oil hole 8 vertically. But with this arrangement oil cannot be drawn back into the bottle if there is a surplus' of oil in the bearing well.

`We' areen bled to control the size of the drops -of oil f ed into the bearing by varying the interior diameter of the tube I4. Thus, the larger the bore of the tube," the more wicking can be placed therein, and consequently the drop of oil will be larger ythanv that of a tube with a very small bore.

From the Aforegoingdescription, it can be seen that wefhave provided a Vthermocapillary lubri-A cating device of exceptionally simple and durable form, which will effectively supply the desired amountof oil to a bearing in direct accordance with the needof a bearing.

Changes in details may be made without departingfrom the spiritor the scopeof our invention, but What we claim as new is:

A thermo capillary lubricator device for bearings comprising a pair of oil reservoirs, caps detachably associated 'with said reservoirs, conductor 'tube'sf'carried by the reservoirs, oil feeding wicks extendingthrough the tubes and into the reservoirs, and an adjustable bracket connecting said reservoirs together including a pair of like companion sections having a pair o f inwardly directed legs, anda pair of overlapping arms, means adjustably connecting said arms together, and clamps on said legs receiving the reservoirs.

1 OSCAR H. JUNG.

PAUL E. HEFFELFINGER. 

